Examining The Potential for Violence in Zimbabwe’s Politics in the Post 2014 Zanu Pf Congress Era (Published)
The article examines the period after the ZANU PF congress that was held in 2014 in Harare. The researchers contend that this congress was unprecedented in ZANU PF as it saw the sacking of the party’s vice president and her perceived allies. The congress also saw a change in the constitution that gave appointing powers to the president to choose his assistants as vice presidents. The researchers attempted a discourse analysis of media discourses reporting on and after the congress to gauge whether there is a possibility of violence in Zimbabwe’s politics after this unprecedented congress and in the run-up to elections in 2018. Comparisons are made between conditions in the country today and those associated with violence in the past. The study concludes tentatively noting that the possibility of violence is likely, given the prevailing conditions especially in ZANU PF; the potential for violence is however not outright certain as the violence has not yet taken place except for a few uncoordinated flashpoints. It remains to be seen if the conditions will remain like this as there is still a lot of time before the elections of 2018.
Keywords: Party-Factionalism., Political violence, Power Politics